Wednesday, September 16, 2015

1539 The Terminator

The best thing so far about Trump’s run for the republican presidential nomination is his replacement on the business “reality” show, “Celebrity Apprentice.”

Maybe you’ve heard of him. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“Apprentice” was on life support when it was suspended so its “host” could “pursue other interests” to cite the cliche used to describe executives and stars who suddenly get resigned.

Ahnold is 68 years old. And he’s come a long way since he was the immigrant muscle man from Austria.

When he switched from bodybuilding to “acting,” his use of English was so poor they had someone dub in his dialogue. But that was a million years ago. Now he speaks well, though with a moderate to heavy Austrian accent many people find charming.

He gave up movies to become governor of California. Well… not exactly “gave up.” He starred in the state’s tourism and job ads.

Then he went back to movie making.

A great actor? No. But charming in a brutal sort of way. And funny both on and off screen.

Someone at Comcast must have been nodding off, thus allowing NBC to make its second really good casting decision this year. (The first was putting Lester Holt in the Nightly News anchor chair. And make no mistake about it… that was a casting decision and an excellent one.)

“Apprentice” pits celebrity interns against each other to please the boss. For all of its run until now the boss was Trump and his act was getting so tired he demoted himself from TV star to politics.

Schwarzenegger is lower key. His sense of humor sneaks up on you. It’s droll and in many ways self-mocking.

The show won’t start until the 2017 TV season, late in 2016. That’s an awfully long prep time. But he always told us he’ll be bahk.

Shrapnel:

--When Ahnold first was allowed to use his own voice and words in the movies some wags invented a board game. The object was to determine how many words you could make out of “Schwarzenegger” that Schwarzenegger could actually pronounce. If memory serves, the winning number was 28.

--Arnold showed his true nature when the California legislature passed a law banning smoking within 20 feet of state buildings. He put up a large tent and equipped it with a telephone. It was 21 feet from the steps of his office and in that way, he could still work as governor and puff on his cigars.

--His movies are dumb fun. He always plays a larger than life action hero who intimidates with a smile and a collection of weapons and moves that delight audiences. But you never leave the theater seat or living room couch without liking him.